Daniel ­ Prophet of the End

"So when you see the disastrous abomination, of which
the prophet Daniel spoke,
set up in the Holy Place (let the reader understand)
then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains..."
Matthew 24:15-22

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The book of Daniel as we know it today dates from about 165 B.C. It
documents the prophet's activities as an interpreter of dreams at the royal
court under King Nebuchadnezzar and extending into the subsequent Persian
reign of Darius the Mede, around 520 B.C.

Daniel's prophecies were ordered sealed by the angel of God until the
time of the End. For this reason, the recent understanding of his words
in our time seems certain proof of the meaning of the age we now occupy.

A major subject of his writing involves the Persian overthrow of Babylon,
which he predicted by interpreting a mysterious handwriting that appeared
on the king of Babylon's palace wall the night the overthrow occurred.
Other essential subjects of his work include the celestial coronation of
Jesus, the erection of the "abomination" that causes the world's
desolation, and the final destruction by God of the army of the Medes together
with its leader, the great "Wretch" of the end.

Earlier, Daniel forecast from the king's dream, the golden statue with
two clay feet that Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar would later erect to wickedness.
We also see reference to the construction of this statue in the writings
of the prophet Zechariah and later see it re-structured into a verbal icon
by the beast of the last days in the Book of Revelation.

The golden statue's two clay feet represent the fatal Achilles' heel
in each of Babylon's two manifestations. First, in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom,
and second, in the global empire that his kingdom actually symbolizes.
It is this second Babylon that is of such importance to Christ's ministry
and to all future prophecies relating to the end of the world.

Our own relationship to the golden statue can be seen in Daniel's decription
of Shadrach, Meschach & Abednego. Refusing because of God, to obey
Nebuchadnezzar's order mandating all the people of the world to worship
his idol, they were sentenced to the flames by the king, but were saved
by an angel from heaven who came down in the middle of the furnace and
protected them from it's fire.

Daniel's remarkable verses stand with the Book of Revelation in their
importance. The two books go hand in hand. His words document many visitations
by an angel of God, and even by Jesus, Himself, as each relate to him the
sobering details of what is to come.

In a dramatic vision, Daniel describes not only the heavenly coronaton
of Jesus Christ as He is brought into the presence of God and given kingship
of the new creation, but also the last judgment when the great court is
held and all the books are opened.

Largely as a result of Daniel's coronation sequence, Jewish interest
in the book as prophecy plummeted with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth.
Daniel's mysterious references to a "son of man" obviously both
divine and messianic, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Jesus Christ
froze Jewish enamor of his work

Barely surviving the Jewish purge of its scripture at Jamnia at the
end of the first century A.D., the book was relegated by Jews to fairy-tale
elements like the lion's den, and his slaying of the dragon, and set aside
for children's reading.

Christians have puzzled over the book for 2000 years. Sealed by the
angel, its details remained secret across the breadth of the millenia.
That veil is not to be in place forever, however. According to the angel,
the book is to be opened at the end of time when the circumstances of its
visions begin to shape into the reality of history. That is the time we
find ourselves in now, and why it's details are suddenly pouring out to
us.

Early Christian prophets saw in the book only Jewish details: the rebuilding
of the Temple in Jerusalem, for instance, and Jewish sacrifices performed
there. As the seals fall, however, we discover that the book is predominately
Christian. It is far more about Christ than Moses.

The rebuilt temple, we discover, is the spiritual structure of Jesus
Christ erected by the Holy Spirit in Christian hearts; the heart of each
believer being the true site of worship in Christendom, and the Lord's
presence there, evidencing it as the restructured "Holy of Holies".
The perpetual sacrifice terminated by the beast is the communion sacrifice
offered in the Christian Church.

Jesus referred His apostles to Daniel's words when they questioned Him
about the grandeur of the Temple in Jerusalem. He told them, of the buildings
they were looking at, that not a stone would be left on another, and that
in the end, even the foundation of its sanctuary (i.e. the rock that is
Peter) would be overthrown and the daily sacrifice there desolated by sacrilege.

Daniel's prophecies center on a period of "70 weeks", defined
for him by an angel, and corresponding to the Christian millenium (the
rebuilding of Jerusalem in Christ). God decreed that this was the period
Daniel's people (and their city) had for putting an end to transgressions,
ridding itself of crime, introducing everlasting integrity, sealing all
vision and prophecy and for cleansing the true Holy of Holies, (the soul)
by baptism into Christ.

Stretching from Jesus' call to rebuild Jerusalem, to the end of the
world, Daniel has divided those 70 weeks into three parts. The first is
7 weeks, the second 62 weeks and the last, a single week. Each represent
crucial stages in the historical sequence of Christianity. Together, they
image a long period of Christian rule on earth sandwiched between two wars
designed to prevent or destroy that rule.

Daniel has provided vivid details of the impending Christian era in
its relationship with the four kingdoms of Persia. It is he who introduces
us to the pivotal concept of a beast with ten horns. Those ten, wrapped
almost seamlessly into a Persian empire to come, not only destroy Babylon,
but decide to annihilate both houses of Israel as well, Christians and
Jews alike. The final stages of that heinous ambition brings the armies
of the world to Jerusalem.

Daniel's words define in almost chronological order the activities that
lead to the end of the world, including two back-to-back wars pitting East
against West at the Euphrates river that launch those activities into motion.
Daniel forsaw in these two battles troops crossing the entire earth without
touching the ground.

Another image reflective of the United States is brought into the prophecy
under the symbolic veil of "the ships of Kittim" (an image familiar
to us today in the U.S. 7th Fleet now militarily positioned in the waters
of the Middle East) as world forces are brought into the fray, insuring
that all the nations on earth will be represented as they gather around
Jerusalem for the final battle.

At the end of the 69th week, after the squares and ramparts of the holy
city have been restored and rebuilt, but in a time of trouble, Daniel indicates
that the "anointed Prince", Michael the Archangel, will rise
up in human form (Dn.9:25; 12:1).

Michael is shown by Daniel to be a predominate figure in the activities
of the final war (the war of the 70th week) when the world is virtually
destroyed, and the power of the Church is severely tested. Daniel foresees
the assassination of "an anointed one"(not Michael), the overthrow
of the Vatican and a Christian Church that is brought almost to the point
of extermination by the "Beast".

Just before that happens, however, God is shown to intervene cosmically,
destroying both the man of evil and his forces (no human hand intervening),
as He rules in favor of the Christian community.

As Daniel watched, a court was held and the beast's power was stripped
from him, consumed, and utterly destroyed. The beast was killed, and its
body destroyed and committed to the flames. After that, sovereignty and
kingship and the splendors of all the kingdoms under heaven were given
to the people of the saints of the Most High.

His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.